Local farm stands on the grow
Showing a freshly stocked Little Red Barn Stand in Burnet are bakers Lisa Lista (left), Cara Reilkoff, Alex Doyle, Sarah Files, Becky Crawford, and Pedroza Esther. The stand is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays. Staff photo by Caden Senn
Take a Highland Lakes road trip for locally produced, farm-fresh, and homemade goods
Old-fashioned farm stands with a modern twist are sprouting across the Highland Lakes. Currently, at least eight self-service locations offer farm-fresh eggs and homemade cookies, pastries, breads, jams, and more, all of which can be purchased via shopping apps such as Venmo, Zelle, and PayPal. Of course, customers can also drop cold, hard cash into locked boxes.
“It’s all based on the honor system, but there’s a camera up there to make sure,” said Sarah Files, who built the Little Red Barn Stand at 18000 Texas 29 East in Burnet in her garage. She and her neighbor-partners keep the stand supplied with cinnamon rolls, brownies, mini-key lime pies, cake pops, quiches, frittatas, gluten-free almond bars, and much, much more.
Stock will soon include fresh vegetables and strawberries from 28 garden beds, which Files says will be ready for harvest in about two weeks. (Dear reader, that means right about now!)
The stand is stocked from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays.
“We take the stock in the morning and check it a few times a day, then we pack it up,” Files said.
Another Burnet-based farm stand, JOI Farms, at 216 Skyline Drive, sells eggs and baked goods. JOI stands for the first names of owner Jill Shifflet and her daughters: Oceona, 12, and Isnaha, 8. The girls take care of the chickens, collect and package the eggs, and help with the baking.
Oceona started her own business at the stand, which she calls Blind Date with a Book.
“She saw a lady at the Bluebonnet Festival who was doing it, and she fell in love with the idea,” Shifflett said. “She bought all her own supplies. She also has a book donation drop.”
The stand has been open for only three months, but they have been raising chickens for eight years.
“We were overloaded with eggs,” Shifflett said when asked why she decided to set up a roadside stand. “We set out eggs seven days a week, then the egg stand turned into a farm stand.”
Baked goods, including cookies, Rice Krispies treats, and bread, are available from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Vegetables should be coming soon, as the family looks to expand its offerings.
Another youngster digging deep into the farm-stand business is Carlee Tucker, 17, who runs Hoof Havoc at 7012 CR 252, Bertram. The stand is open daily and sells sourdough bread, banana bread, muffins, free-range eggs, and goat-milk caramel. She and a neighbor also make and sell soap using goat and donkey milk as well as body lotions with essential oils.
“We do pop-ups, randomly,” Tucker said. “We’ve only been open about four months, so we’re still trying things out. We switch up our menu weekly.”
The Velvet Hen in Burnet started with a loaf of bread. Alyx Van Brocklin decided to see how well her sourdough loaves would sell in the lobby of her family’s restaurant, Highlander House of Buffet and Steakhouse, 401 Buchanan Drive.
“They sold out,” she said. “I decided to add other baked goods, and they were popular, too. It’s been growing since.”
She set up a stand in the restaurant lobby, where customers and products keep cool in the conditioned air. Purchases are made through the restaurant’s register.
“The Highlander has been in my family for 40 years,” Van Brocklin said. “I’ve always grown up baking with my grandma here. Everything we have is made with love and recipes that have been passed down through the years.”
Favorites include her grandmother’s pecan pie and hummingbird cake and her aunt’s porch swing cake. Alongside browned loaves of sourdough, the Velvet Hen sells chicken and duck eggs, cinnamon rolls, handmade soaps, local pecans, local honey, honey butter, and seasonings. The shop is open during restaurant hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on weekends.
Pecan Bottom Poultry Farm & Supply at 111 Pecan Lane in Burnet has been around for about two years. Chicken farmer Amy McDaniel sells about 20 dozen eggs a week. She also sells live chickens, quail, and ducks, but as a separate business from the farm stand.
“It started as a part-time hobby, and it just got bigger and bigger,” she said of her chickens. “On a busy week, I make deliveries.”
Pecan Bottom also sells dried fruits, jams, and beef tallow (when the weather is cold). She handles custom orders from her Facebook page.
“I like the fruits myself,” she said. “It gives you something healthy to snack on.”
Eggs seem to be the language of love for most of the farm stands, especially at Flat Rock Creek Ranch, 2032 Shovel Mountain Road in Marble Falls. It’s a small, egg-only stand, said Katie Jo Cude.
“My phone number is listed on the cooler for whenever someone may find it empty,” she said. “The chickens are pasture-raised.”
The family also raises black Angus cattle and American Dairy Goat Association-registered Nubians. They sell meat and eggs at the Downtown Marble Falls Farmers Market from 4-7 p.m. Tuesdays.
“We’re working on our Grade A Raw Milk for Retail (Sale) license and micro-dairy as well,” she said.
No one stand is like the other. Avery Lloyd recently remodeled her Lloyd FarmStand at 2020 CR 330 in Burnet, putting in a mini-fridge to keep perishables and a tin overhang to shield products and customers from the sun. She opened in October 2025.
“I decided to open because I love all things about homesteading,” she said. “I sew, can, bake, garden, and I figured why not sell them. I also love how farm stands bring back community and bring people together.”
Lloyd’s is open daily until dark, selling chocolate chip cookies, dill and bread and butter pickles, salsa, dilly beans, sourdough chocolate brownies and English muffins, lemon sugar donuts, and everything bagels.
Competition between farm stands is not a thing in this farm-fresh, home-baked world. McDaniel at Pecan Bottom Poultry Farm compiled a Burnet County Trail of Farm Stands list and posted it on social media.
“I thought it would be fun to promote them all together,” she said. “People can make a road trip out it.”
The list includes one Llano County stand, The Hermosa Bakehouse at 3965 Hermosa Drive in Kingsland. The small, family-owned stand is open every day from 7 a.m. to noon, or until sold out.
“I decided to open because having a farm stand in a small town has always felt personal to me,” Melissa Heffron said. “It’s about more than just selling food. It’s about creating something honest and meaningful for the community.”
Lloyd agreed.
“We have such a trustworthy, loving community,” she said. “It has been a blessing to see how people can come together, just over a farm stand opening every weekend.”
Shifflett at JOI Farm said it’s all about fresh food and people.
“It’s about providing fresh ingredients,” she said. “Everyone’s going back to the roots. I think a lot of people are going more natural. They don’t want the eggs at the grocery store. And we want to share with the community. We like to make people smile.”
Just one bite of a homemade cinnamon roll or toasted sourdough with homemade butter will put a smile on anyone’s face. Time to utilize that list and plan a tasty road trip.
The Burnet County Trail of Farm Stands
Amy McDaniel at Pecan Bottom Poultry Farm and Supply in Burnet compiled the following list to make planning a farm stand road trip in the Highland Lakes easy as a piece of—sourdough bread, cinnamon roll, pecan pie, cookies—you name it. Each stand is unique in ownership and product, so try them all! And if you have a farm stand that’s not on this list, contact “Amy Lynn McDaniel” on Facebook and she’ll add it.
7012 CR 252, Bertram
Open 24/7
18000 Texas 29 East, Burnet
Open 8 a.m. to sundown Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
401 Buchanan Drive, Burnet
Inside Highlander House of Buffet & Steakhouse
Open 11 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. weekends
216 Skyline Drive, Burnet
Open daily from 9 a.m. to sunset
111 Pecan Lane, Burnet
Open daily from sunrise to sunset
2020 CR 330, Burnet
Open daily until dark
3965 Hermosa Drive, Kingsland
Open daily from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
2032 Shovel Mountain Road, Marble Falls
Open daily; call number posted if sold out